Pain
by Acinarret
Summary: Sometimes in order to help a friend, you have to sacrifice your own happiness. An old songfic from 2009.


_Notice: This is purely fan-made, not-profit, and I in no way own Kingdom Hearts._  
_Warning: This contains shonen-ai (Don't like? Don't read!)_

_This is a story that was originally written back in 2009. Please treat it as such._

* * *

Sora raced along the sandy shores of Destiny Islands as fast as his legs could carry him. Salty tears stung his eyes and slipped down his cheeks, but he didn't care. He just had to keep running. He had to get home. Get somewhere other than where he currently was.

Everything had been fine just a few hours ago. He'd been sitting along the ocean's edge, content with the soft waves tickling his ankles every so often and watching the soothing sunset with Kairi. Something that he'd come to do quite frequently after they'd all returned from their journeys. But things changed the moment he took the wrong direction with their conversation. They'd just been talking about random things as usual. Topics had started to become sparse with so little to do again. Still, Sora must have taken this as a sign of opportunity and confessed his feelings for Kairi.

She'd looked shocked upon hearing this, but Sora had expected as much. It was only when her face contorted more into hurt, confusion, and sadness that he realized he'd done something wrong.

"How could you say that?" she'd asked. Her expression burning into his mind as if he'd done some sort of horrendous crime. "I thought you were better than that."

That was when he ran.

He didn't know how long he kept running. All he knew was that the sky kept getting darker and darker with the setting sun, and he in turn was getting exhausted.

Before he knew it, he realized where he was. He was standing in his "secret place" that he and Riku had discovered together. His mind didn't even remember coming in here, but that didn't change the fact where he was. Relaxing a bit, he let his eyes graze over the various etchings that he and Riku had made together as children.

"Things were so simple then," he said to himself as he let one of his hands ghost over a carving of a Chocobo with an X through it.

"Yeah, they were," another voice remarked from within the shadows behind him.

Sora let out a gasp and turned around quickly to the presence behind him. "Whose there!?"

"Geez, relax Sora," the voice chuckled as it stepped out of the shadows. "It's only me."

"Riku?" Sora choked out, turning back around so he might wipe away the tear stains with the back of his hand before his friend could see. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to make sure you were okay. I saw you running down the beach so I followed you here." Though Sora could not see, Riku's eyes showed true concern as he continued to walk over to Sora before placing an arm gently around his shoulder. "What happened?"

Sora just stared blankly at the wall before he spoke. "I confessed to Kairi."

"And I take it that things didn't go too well," Riku remarked more as an answer than a question. "Any reason why?"

"I don't know," Sora choked, feeling the tears begin to come again. "Just…the way that she looked at me. Like I was some sort of monster."

"Don't ever say that Sora," Riku said calmly, wrapping his arm around his friend's shoulder. "I'm sure Kairi had her reason. After all, she's a Princess of Heart. I don't think she's even capable of being cruel."

Sora nodded his head in agreement, remembering their adventures as he glanced over to the drawing he and Kairi had made as kids, noticing for the first time that another paopu fruit was added to the picture.

Riku seemed to notice this too, and by the way he could see Sora staring at it, he knew that his point had been made quite clear. "See, I told you," he smiled, putting on his normal 'Riku face'.

"I guess you're right," Sora smiled, gaining back his composure. "I suppose I was wrong to doubt her all this time. After all, we've been friends for so long. Perhaps she just thought that a relationship would hurt all of that. I can't blame her for thinking that way. Hey, Riku?"

"Hmm?" The silver haired teen released Sora so his friend could turn around talk to him face to face.

"I think I'm gonna go talk to Kairi tomorrow. Straighten everything out and apologize for running off as I did. I know now that it wasn't the right thing to do."

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea," Riku agreed.

"I suppose we should both go home now," Sora laughed rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "It's getting late and our parents are probably worried where we are."

"Agreed."

As both boys stepped out of the cavern they realized that the sun had almost completely set and the sky, now a fading shade purple and blue with only a tint of red in the west, was littered with stars.

"It really is beautiful here," Riku smiled, admiring the sky. "Out of all the worlds I've visited, I think I like this one the best."

"Me too," Sora laughed. "Especially since those most special to me are here. Well, I've got to go."

And with that he rushed off with one last wave goodbye for the evening and headed on home.

"Oh, Sora…" Riku sighed, his face growing grim with sadness as he looked up into the nighttime sky. "If only you knew…"


End file.
